I'm a fan of Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan series, so I thought I'd try out Planetary, based on some strong recommendations. The art and the plot are relatively strong: expansive and wildly imaginative. What seems to have been forgotten was character development. With the exception of the enigmatic Elijah Snow, the other two main characters are bland stick figures. I was unable to identify and uninterested in them. Because of this, Planetary comes off as somewhat pedestrian. I'm sure the character development progressed over the course of the series, but this book by itself just isn't all that intriguing. I suggest you try Transmetropolitan if you're looking for someting a bit more innovative.

Planetary is an underground organization that has the sole purpose of discovering the secret, strange, supernatural and wonderful history of the world. Ellis and Cassaday take the reader along with the three person Planetary field team, uncovering hidden legends and encountering grand adventure and wonder - but just as equally pay great homage (or sometimes cheeky irreverence) to the many genres that have enriched fictional history.

Planetary is such a well crafted comic book that you wouldn't need much to enjoy it. Ellis has a natural knack for pacing a story, and supplying us with interesting and believable characters. Cassaday matches him in every respect with solid storytelling and a fantastic design sense that is almost chameleon like - each issue of Planetary is genre based, and Cassaday's skill is such that each genre is faithfully recalled, without ever needing to recycle designs. I must also make mention of the incredible colours supplied by Laura Depuy and David Baron - comic books have rarely looked this vibrant and it is books like this with artists like Cassaday, Depuy and Baron that will break the comics industry free of stigma as a lesser medium to film or "books".

Still - the full enjoyment of this series will hinge on an appreciation for wonder and adventure, for mystery, for humour, for genre conventions - but rarely is a comic presented to you with such variety and lack of baggage that you shouldn't pass it up.

Planetary, a team of superhuman archelogists, is a uniformly excellent series, and an interesting take on the superhero. Warren Ellis, who has stated on more than one occassion he doesn't care for the superhero genre, weighs in with his take on the field, with vaguely familiar characters dancing in the backgrounds of his stories.

There are a lot of treats to reading Planetary. One is Ellis' sick, twisted imagination, where a group that looks vaguely like Grant Morrison's JLA is suddenly on an emergency mission of genocide, or where the Fantastic Four is re-imagined as a group of Nazis (which does get down to answering the question on why Reed Richards' inventions never seem to help anyone but himself and his family in a rather nasty way). Part of the fun is to try and guess who Ellis is ripping on at any given moment.

Another treat is the story itself. Dealing with the exploits of the Drummer, Jakita Wagner, and the amnesiac Elijah Snow as the three encounter odd phenomena after phenomena. And despite being rather formidably powered, the trio rarely gets physically involved. It's not why they're there. They're there to put together the pieces behind a grand conspiracy, and though most chapters can easily stand alone, the added effect of reading all six at once adds to the whole in ways unseen and unappreciable any other way.

A final treat is artist John Cassaday. This book is clearly as much about his excellent visuals as it is Ellis' writing, and his re-imagining of the looks of classic and recognizable characters adds to the fun, as does his detail work.

...

After the stellar "Planetary, Book I" I had high hopes for this hard to find follow-up. It does not quite deliver the punch of the first, but it serves admirably to set up book 3. It starts off with a dissapointing story, but gets better with each chapter and finishes quite strong. Ellis continues to recast familiar comics lore in his "X-Files on steroids" world of Planetary (in Book 2 he tackles Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the origin of Superman, Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., giant ants from the sci-fi flick "Them", and cameos of characters who resemble Swamp Thing, Cyclops, the Impossible Man, Medusa, C3PO and others in Chapt. 1).

If you liked the first, its worth getting a hold of this one and by all means get in line for the 3rd book!
Also recommended: Kurt Busiek's "Astro City " series.

As the comic book series collected here has been plagued by interminable delays trade hardcover and paperback collections are likely the best way to follow the story of Elijah Snow as je seeks to recover his lost memories, and solve the mystery of the incredibly wealthy organization that sends him, the seemingly indestructible Jakita Wagner, and the annoying Drummer, on thier amazing missions.

In this volume we finally discover the identity of the mysterious Fourth Man, who bankrolls the efforts of the Planetary Foundation, in it's quest to discover "the secret history" of the planet, and the true agenda of the organization. By the end of this volume, the battle lines are drawn, and we wait with baited breath for the final battle to come.

I just wish it would get here. It's been nearly a year since the last issue collected here was published and since then only two new installments of the story have seen the light of day. Intriguing stories, great art, but a drag to wait for,....

I have often been asked by many of my friends about why a man of my age would even bother to spend time reading a comic book. Usually, my response is to lend them a copy of something by Warren Ellis.

In my opinion, this book and the one that precedes it are great examples of the very best that western adventure comics have to offer. Ellis skilfully constructs a hidden history and slowly draws the reader along, often leaving us gasping for more. He satisfies the comic lover with his exploration of some of the genre stereotypes, while, At the same time, giving us a great thriller/mystery that the not-so-comic-versed can also enjoy.

All this and great art too. Cassaday really adds immeasurably to the words on the page.

This is a strong piece of work that you should really look into.